daily tweet

on Monday, 29 June 2009

  • 12:11 Take That have left town. Stage being dismantled. Lots of cranes. So no more sound checks for us.
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daily tweet

on Sunday, 28 June 2009

  • 21:29 Been to Buxton today. Met friend. Lots of chat. Afternoon tea. Photographed Zehara belly dancers. Went to Mind Body Spirit exhibition.
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coffee and cake

on Sunday, 21 June 2009


red
Originally uploaded by vanilla.sky.
Been to the Lakes today. First port of call was the Lakeland Shop at Windermere for lunch and browse around their immense selection of household goodies, pondering all the way whether anyone actually had a house big enough for all the items. Potato scrubbers, mushroom brushes, garlic squashers and the very latest thing ... strawberry slicer!

I bought a plate stacker for my cupboard and some suction things that wrap around bottles of shower gel and attach themselves conveniently to the tiles.

Next port of call was Hawkshead. Mostly to look in Poppi Red which is a lush collection of allsorts of gifty paraphernalia. I didn't buy anything in there but enjoyed looking. Instead in the crystal shop I found a teeny weeny glass bottle filled with gold leaf and water which is perfect for my recently established "show and tell" corner of items found along the way.

No trip to the Lakes is complete without a visit to Chesters for coffee (and if I'm good, cake - today was lemon cake with passionfruit icing). Another gifty shop. They have lovely stuff but it's not cheap! I like to browse though.

Half the roads around Skelwith Bridge and Hawkshead seemed to be in holes with convoy traffic lights every few hundred yards. So we went the alternative route. Down extremely narrow single track roads. Fortunately very few cars were coming in the opposite direction. We eventually emerged at Grasmere and then headed home.

kilner jar dessert

on Saturday, 20 June 2009


kilner jar dessert
Originally uploaded by vanilla.sky.
Been making my own version of the Great British Menu dessert in a jar. Theirs involved clotted cream, ice cream and raspberry coulis.

Mine's got blackcurrant jelly. A layer of Sainsbury's best frozen morello cherries (yum). A layer of low fat plain yoghurt. Then a scattering of pomegranate seeds. Some more low fat plain yoghurt. And then, the crowning glory ... hundreds and thousands.

It looks very pretty!

paper chased

on Saturday, 13 June 2009


stationery addict
Originally uploaded by vanilla.sky.
I love stationery. I can never resist checking out a display of pens, pencils or notebooks. I frequent Paperchase and invariably buy something. Notebooks are my favourite purchase there. I favour the ones with the squared paper. It's a French thing. I buy cute mechanical pencils that look like traditional pencils in Asda. I have a whole range of mechanical pencils and an even bigger box of miscellaneous pens and pencils. I mostly write with fountain pens. I have a collection of those too. And at the moment I'm in a pencil phase. I hardly ever use biros. I make one exception - a biro that looks like a pencil, complete with eraser on top!

I keep a small selection of current favourites in a bright pink pencil case in my bag. I always carry at least one notebook with me. I use notebooks as journals. The ones with stream of consciousness ramblings are always burned in a red hot fire when I've finished with them. I write notes in others with ideas for my blog or things I want to do, goals lists and snippets of things I've read that I want to remember. Others are simply to do lists and shopping lists.

One of my great pleasures is to sit in a nice little cafe. Latte. Notebook. Current favourite pencil. Mobile phone. Camera. And I sit and jot. Invariably take a photo of coffee cup, pen and notebook! Send texts or tweets. And the world feels pretty good.

Other notable notebook addicts include the girl in the cafe and Pragmatik.

tag, you're it

on Tuesday, 9 June 2009

Tagged by Miss Thursday over at the Life Laundry.

What is your current obsession?


Sitting in cafes, drinking latte, writing in my notebook and sending Tweets

What is your weirdest obsession?

Pens. I can't stop buying them. Fountain pens. And mechanical pencil. It's like a quest for the perfect pen/cil.

What are you wearing today?

Per Una blue and white striped pyjamas, fluffy pink dressing gown (it's late-ish)

What’s for dinner?


Cooked chicken from Sainsbury's, stir fry veg, cottage cheese, followed by meringue, frozen cherries (a bit of an obsession) and WW berry fruits layered fromage frais

What would you eat for your last meal?

Buddha Lounge thai seafood banquet, lots of chocolate, Movenpick ice cream (white chocolate, Swiss chocolate and creme brulee)

What’s the last thing you bought?

Thinking hard abut this one but it's food. Wanted it to be something interesting but last thing I bought was supermarket food (including three bags of frozen cherries!)

What are you listening to right now?

The clock ticking. TV on silent as I was concentrating on writing something

What do you think of the person who tagged you?

She's an amazing writer, a fabulous blogger, she should have her own book contract

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

Venice

Which language do you want to learn?

Italian (could come in handy for Venice!)

What’s your favourite quote (for now)?

Le monde ne suffit pas

What is your favourite colour?

Blue

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?

My favourite clothes are pyjamas.

What is your dream job?

Event/documentary photographer - with pay!

Describe your personal style?

Conservative but with maverick undertones

What’s your favourite tree?


This one

What are you going to do after this?

Wash up, tidy the kitchen, make cup of hot chocolate, go to bed, read two lines and fall asleep

What’s your favourite fruit?

Frozen red cherries

What inspires you?

Creativity

Your favourite books?

Pride and Prejudice, Naughty Bunny

What are you currently reading?

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, Eat Pray Love

Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first line:


'Whose source is inaccessibly profound,
Whither do thy mysterious waters tend?
Thou imagest my life'.
Shelley. Complete Poetical Works. The Spirit of Solitude

What delighted you the most today?

Getting Twitter to work in Facebook properly

By what criteria do you judge a person?

First impressions as they're invariably right

Which person, past or present, would you most like to have a conversation with?

King Arthur

How do you drink your tea?

Weak, black, preferably in clear glass mug or nice cup and saucer

The rules:

1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.

2. Tag eight other people.

the girl in the cafe, 37 days, pragmatik and anyone else who would like to be tagged

walk about

on Monday, 25 May 2009


whit walk
Originally uploaded by vanilla.sky.
The end of a very nice weekend. I'm sitting here looking out on to the tree tops, a very grey sky in the background but the birds are still singing and a very cold glass of Sainsbury's best non-alcoholic white wine sits on my desk.

Today was whit walk day. Another glorious sunny day, I got into town about 9 a.m., well covered in factor 30. I watched the walkers get ready to walk down by Urbis and wandered up and down looking for shots. Once the parade started I nipped through to St Ann's Square to catch up with the band there. The famous baton twirler was leading today and he did a fair bit of baton twirling. Rumour has it that this is his last year as baton twirler but I don't know whether that's true. If it is, whit walks won't be quite the same.

The usual gathering took place at the Town Hall square. I chatted to a freelance photographer for the MEN and we exchanged notes about whit walk shots. And I had a nice conversation with an artist from Arran.

The procession continued back towards Urbis. I kept my eye on the baton twirler and walked back towards St Ann's Square. And then it was all over for another year.

M&S beckoned. It was lunch time. And afterwards dreaded clothes shopping in a bid to find some summer clothes. I can do winter clothes reasonably well but summer clothes always seem so difficult especially work summer clothes. I found a skirt in Next that was suitably summery but business-like. And a blouse but that's going back. Now all I need are some shoes!

Back home I finished off my weekend photo book and despatched it to Apple for printing. Hopefully it will be back within a week. I watched "National Treasure" for the umpteenth time and had a soak in a Lush vanilla bath.

All in all, a perfect weekend.